Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Off the Grid

For some of you that may just stumbled across my blog or those that follow along. I have been off the grid for about 3 weeks now. So far the system has been running flawlessly since it came online.

I am not 100% off the grid but about 90%. The grid for me is actually the backup if the batteries are not fully charged and I still have 3 things connected to the grid. My stove, water heater and heat, which are all electric. Because I do not have a big enough inverter they can not be connected to the off grid system.

If the grid goes down for what ever reason I will still function as normal. There are other ways to heat water and stay warm.

I installed 6- 250 watt solar panels on a ground mount support. I chose this style because it's cheap and I can clean the snow off them in the winter.

I used 2- Outback GVFX 3648 inverters with 2 sets of 105ahr 12v deep cycle boat batteries for a total of 210 ahr at 48 volts.


 The Outback inverters were from a job that I did earlier this year that I acquired for converting the system over to grid interactive. The batteries are from Menard's. Just cheap boat batteries. I wanted batteries that I could buy locally. Plus I didn't spend a ton of money on them.

I am currently running my computer and lights off grid while I am blogging to you today. I live my life and run my business just like normally when connected to the grid. I really curious to see what next months electric bill will be.

I will continue to post from time to time on how my system is doing. My plan next is to install a small wind turbine. Probably a Whisper 200 on a 80' pole.

If you would like to follow along it is best to like J.D. Stratton Electric on Facebook.